


Alive

by janetcarter



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Bad Coping Skills, Body Image, Bruises, Exercise Addiction, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:48:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22265122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janetcarter/pseuds/janetcarter
Summary: Off the streets and studying at Earthforce Academy, Elizabeth thinks she's moving on. She isn't.
Relationships: Elizabeth Lochley/Zoe
Kudos: 2
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Alive

**Author's Note:**

> For the Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt "Bruises". I wrote this when I got my card back in May and fixed it up to post. Based a lil on my own past so pls be kind, and pls don't read if this will trigger you.

Elizabeth sharply inhaled as her back hit the seat. Squeezing her eyes shut to hide the pain as other students filed in around her, she shifted closer to the desk. 

She wasn't about to admit she'd overdone it. If anything, bruises and sore muscles just meant she hadn't trained enough to adapt. She needed to be better than this. She needed to, quite literally, form thicker skin. 

She hadn't absorbed much of the lesson--something about starfury docking procedures, she'd catch up in the textbook later--but it didn't matter. She pinched the skin on her stomach, pretending to adjust her loose shirt. 

She had more important things to worry about.

In her dorm that night, unfinished homework covered her desk. She wished for a fleeting moment she'd paid attention to the lesson to compensate, but the burning in her abdominals cut the thought short. 

She counted each sit-up to herself, kept pushing, kept forcing her body beyond its limits. She had to be better than this, stronger, more in control. She had to be better than Lizzie.

The hardwood deepened her bruises every time her bumpy spine hit the floor. It served as more motivation to come back up again, a breath of fresh air despite the pain to get there and the metallic singe in her throat. 

No matter how much she trained she felt weaker, like she was wasting away. But she couldn't be. She was thriving. She was alive. 

Because Zoe wasn't.


End file.
